helpingmom

33 Composite, but 7 on essay

Should ACT be retaken because the essay score it that low?

xindianx

NO NO NO, do not retake, it is not necessary, the ACT and SAT essays are not a huge admissions factor. They are used to basically verify that the college application essays are the applicants essays and correspond 'somewhat' to the ACT/SAT Essay. Your son did EXCELLENT on his ACT, there is no need to put him through added pressure with such a score. So yeah, the 7 on the essay will not hurt.

robertsont06

I disagree with xindianx- "somewhat." I don't think that a school will look to see if college essays and test essays "somewhat" correspond. But if they do, that isn't fair. When writing an essay on a standardized test you have either 25 or 30 mins. When writing a college essay, a you usually have upwards of a month to write the essay! Also, when writing a college essay a person could seek outside guidance, grammar checks etc... all of which are not available during test essays. The extreme difference in time alloted to complete the two essays rule the two essay irrelevant in comparison. I think that if you're right about colleges doing this, thats just ludicrous.

-BTW , 33- great score, i wouldn't suggest a retake. i don't think the 7 really matters.

Quick Q- what was his english score? (I'm just curious how this kig got a seven with a good english score)

-later

zoogies

ZOMG DON'T RETAKE. The ACT is such a horrible test, once is definitely enough. I got a 34 composite, 7 essay, and they didn't even tell me why I got a 7, my comments were about how my essay was focused and related to the prompt. I don't know how colleges see it, but I wouldn't do this again. Also, I believe ACT scores vary a lot for a lot of people, so take your 33 and stick with it. Heaven knows if I would get close to a 34 again if I took it a second time.

robertsont06

yeah they said the same crap on my essay. its focused-blah blah blah, met requirements. I got a measly 8.

robertsont06

I think that ACT score vary a lot as well. I'll be on the better end of that this time in Decemeber- I hope.

helpingmom

Thanks for your responses. His english score was a 32, so I'm not sure why the 7 on the essay. The comments were similar to those above, nothing negative.

ra2000a

29 and 11 on essay. weird

BlueDevilBBall

i got a 33 and 12 on essay... with a 32 on english also... remember colleges look at standardized tests solely to give everyone a "level playing field" so to speak, and somewhat account for the disparities in GPA's from school to school (let's face it, a 4.0 gpa at a top private school is NOT the same as a 4.0 at an inner city school, so they can't be sure what GPA really means on a national level). So, knowing that different readers will read different essays and the scores will be based on opinions and not hard facts, they can't compare a 12 with a 10 or a 7 or a 5; they don't REALLY know how much better or worse the essays were with regard to one another.

I know, long and drawn out, but in sum, they can see the 33 and know what to take of it, but they don't know how good or bad your son's essay was in their own eyes, so it shouldn't matter much or at all, especially this year.

Esquared

haha...yes, I got a 34 English score and a 7 on the essay, though I've take the ACT before then and got a 10 on an essay...you can send all of your ACT scores, I don't know how they look at them though....I think my essay was a bit quirky for them

zoogies

BlueDevilBBall, for the SATs, the essay graders are trained in such a way that more or less, all essays WILL be the same. In fact, they give prescored essays to grader trainees, and if the grader trainees don't holistically consider the essay and assign it the same mark, they might not become graders. I'm not so sure they do this for the ACT, but they do for the SAT and it's reasonable to assume the ACT has a similar system.